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À Chaque Jour Suffit Sa Peine
À Chaque Jour Suffit Sa Peine
English equivalent: Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. (New Testament, Matthew
6:34)
À cheval donné on ne regarde pas les dents (French) / la bride (Canadian).
Idiomatic translation: Don't look a gifthorse in the mouth.
Literal translation: On a given horse one doesn´t look at the teeth / bridle (the bit in the
horse's mouth).
A l'oeuvre, on connaît l'ouvrier.
1. Translation: A carpenter is known by his chips.
1. Autre temps, autres moeurs.
2. Idiomatic translation: It's six of one and half a dozen of the other.
1. C'est dans le besoin qu'on reconnaît ses vrais amis.
1. Literal translation: It's when in need that one recognises his friends.
2. Idiomatic translation: A friend in need is a friend indeed.
1. C'est dans les vieilles marmites qu'on fait les meilleures soupes.
1. Literal Translation: It's in old kettles that one makes the best soup.
2. Idiomatic Translation: The best broths are made in the oldest pots.
1. C'est en forgeant qu'on devient forgeron.
1. Literal meaning: It's the drop of water that makes the jug overflow.
2. Idiomatic translation: It's the straw that breaks the camel's back.
1. C'est la paille et la poutre.
1. Literal meaning: It is the hen which sings which has laid the egg.
2. Idiomatic translation: The guilty dog barks the loudest.
1. C'est la poêle qui se moque du chaudron.
1. Idiomatic translation: They love too much who die for love.
2. Literal translation: It´s loving too much when one dies of it.
1. C'est un prêté pour un rendu.
1. Idiomatic translation: Don´t leave till tomorrow what can be finished today.
2. Literal translation: What is done no longer needs to be done.
1. Ce n'est pas aux vieux singes qu'on apprend à faire des grimaces.
2. Literal meaning: You can't teach old monkeys how to make faces.
1. Ce n'est pas la vache qui crie le plus fort qui donne le plus de lait.
1. Translation: The heart that sighs does not have what it desires.
1. Comme on fait son lit on se couche.
1. Idiomatic translation 1: Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and
wise.
2. Idiomatic translation 2: An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
3. Literal meaning: Going to bed with the hen and waking with the crow keeps the man
from the grave.
[edit] D
1. Dans le doute, abstiens-toi.
1. Idiomatic translation: A woman laughs when she can and weeps when she wants.
1. Filer à l'anglaise.
1. Literal translation: Big Corvette, small willie. (penis - quéquette being informal French).
1. Idiomatic translation: One must run with the hare and hunt with the hounds.
2. Literal meaning: One must spare both the goat and the cabbage.
1. Il faut que jeunesse se passe.
2. Literal meaning: Never say, "Fountain, I shall not drink of your water."
1. Il ne faut jamais remettre au lendemain ce qu'on peut faire le jour même.
1. Literal translation: Never put off to tommorrow what you can do today.
2. Translation: One of these days is none of these days.
1. Il ne faut pas chercher midi à quatorze heures.
1. Idiomatic translation: There are none so blind as they who will not see.
1. Il n'est pire eau que celle qui dort. also "Méfie-toi de l'eau qui dort"
1. Literal meaning: There is no worse water than the water which sleeps / Beware of the
water which sleeps.
2. Idiomatic translation: Still waters run deep.
1. Il n'est pire sourd que celui qui ne veut pas entendre.
1. Idiomatic translation: There are none so distant that fate cannot bring together.
2. Literal meaning: Only mountains never meet.
1. Idiomatic translation: There's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip.
1. Il y a plus d'un âne à la foire qui s'appellent Martin. also "Tous les ânes ne s'appellent pas
Martin."
1. Idiomatic translation 1: If one will not, another will.
2. Idiomatic translation 2: There's plenty more fish in the sea
3. Literal meaning: There is more than one donkey at the fair called Martin.
1. Impossible n'est pas français.
1. Literal translation: Never coward shall have fair lady for friend.
2. Idiomatic translation: Faint heart never won fair lady.
1. Jamais deux sans trois.
1. Idiomatic translation: Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt
me.
2. Literal meaning: The spit of the toad doesn't reach the white dove.
1. La caque sent toujours le hareng.
1. Idiomatic translation: What's bred in the bone will come out in the flesh.
2. Literal meaning: A herring barrel will always smell of herring.
1. La chance sourit aux audacieux.
1. Idiomatic translation:
2. Literal meaning: Culture is like jam, the less we have the more we spread it.
1. Translation: The prettiest girl in the world can only give what she has.
1. L'appétit vient en mangeant.
1. Idiomatic translation: The more you have, the more you want.
2. Literal meaning: Appetite comes while eating.
1. La raison du plus fort est toujours la meilleure.
1. Idiomatic translation: Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings comes forth truth.
2. Latin: Ex ore parvulorum veritas
3. Literal meaning: The truth comes from the mouth of children.
1. Le crime ne paie pas.
1. Idiomatic translation: The criminal always returns to the scene of the crime.
2. Literal meaning: The Devil always shits in the same place.
1. La bible comme lu par le diable.
1. Idiomatic translation: One man's meat is another man's poison. OR One man's trash is
another man's treasure.
2. Literal meaning: The misfortune of some makes the joy of others.
1. Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien.
1. Idiomatic translation: Like breeds like / The apple does not fall far from the tree.
1. Idiomatic translation: Eat your fish while it is fresh, marry your daughter while she is
young.
1. Mars venteux et avril pluvieux font mai gai et gracieux.
1. Literal translation: Windy March and rainy April make May jolly and gracious
2. Idiomatic translation: March winds and April showers bring forth May flowers.
1. Mieux vaut être seul que mal accompagné.
1. Literal meaning: Anoint the villain he will stab you (oindre and poindre being outdated
verbs)
2. Idiomatic translation: Claw a churl by the breech, and he will shite in your fist.
1. Literal meaning: One does not make a donkey drink if it isn't thirsty.
2. Idiomatic translation: You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.
1. On ne fait pas d'omelette sans casser des œufs.
1. Idiomatic translation: You can't have your cake and eat it.
2. Literal meaning: You can't have the bacon and the pig.
1. On ne peut être à la ville et aux champs.
1. Idiomatic translation: You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
2. Literal meaning: You can't turn a buzzard / a dolt into a sparrowhawk.
1. On ne prend pas les mouches avec du vinaigre.
1. Idiomatic translation: The cow / goat must browse where she is tethered.
[edit] P
1. Pas de nouvelle, bonne nouvelle.
1. Literal meaning: What does the bottle matter, so long as there is drunkenness.
1. Translation: The more things change, the more they're the same.
1. Plus fait douceur que violence.
1. Literal meaning: Promising and keeping (one's promise) are two (different things).
2. Idiomatic translation: It's one thing to promise and another to perform.
1. Proverbe ne peut mentir.
1. Idiomatic translation: While the cat's away the mice will play.
2. Literal meaning: When the cat's away the mice dance.
1. Quand le vin est tiré, il faut le boire.
1. Translation: If you don't have what you love, you have to love what you have.
1. Quand on veut, on peut.
1. Literal meaning: Those who have good neighbors, have good mornings.
2. Idiomatic translation: Good neighbours give good days.
1. Qui a bu boira.
1. Idiomatic translation: The rich man is the one who pays his debts.
2. Literal meaning: He who pays his debts, gets richer.
2. Literal translation: Who makes himself a ewe, the wolf will eat.
1. Qui sème le vent récolte la tempête.
1. Idiomatic translation: Evening red and morning grey will set the traveller on his way.
2. Literal Meaning: Red evening and white morning, such is the pilgrim's day.
[edit] S
1. Sauve qui peut.
1. Idiomatic translation: When three people know, the whole world knows.
2. Literal meaning: A secret shared by two is shared with God; a secret shared by three is
shared with everybody.
1. Si jeunesse savait, si vieillesse pouvait.
1. Literal meaning: Often does a woman change her heart, mad be the man who will trust
her.
2. Idiomatic translation: Woman is fickle, man beware!
1. Suffisance vaut abondance.
1. Literal meaning: So often does the jug go to water that in the end it breaks.
2. Translation 1: Do not strain your luck.
3. Translation 2: Anyone can only take so much.
1. Tel est petit qui boit bien.
1. Literal meaning: Everything is poison. Nothing is poison. The poison is the dose.
2. Attributed to Paracelsus.
A lie travels round the world while truth is putting her boots on.
French Proverb
Fortune is a woman; if you neglect her today do not expect to regain her tomorrow.
French Proverb
If the doctor cures the sun sees it, but if he kills the earth hides it.
French Proverb
It is only the tree loaded with fruit that the people throw stones.
French Proverb
Marriage is a lottery.
French Proverb
No gulls, no luck.
French Proverb
Riches run after the rich, and poverty runs after the poor.
French Proverb
Sorrow for a widow is like pain in the elbow, sharp and short.
French Proverb
The child may be rocked too hard.
French Proverb
The pleasure of love lasts but a moment, The pain of love lasts a lifetime.
French Proverb
The poor man commands respect; the beggar must always excite anger.
French Proverb
Try to reason about love and you will lose your reason.
French Proverb
What is not good for the swarm is not good for the bees.
French Proverb
Yesterday is nostalgia.
French Proverb